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August 30th by Chris

Guestbook
I have brought up a beta version of an SDA Guestbook, at http://planetquake.com/sda/guest. Feel free to go and write whatever you want, but please dont abuse it, ie write stupid things there, or use other peoples names, which could pose as an annoyance to others. I hope you find it useful, we will read any comments in there, so it is also meant to be a place for feedback from the site. Any problems, drop me a line. Void pointed out to me during testing, that it wont work if the client has cookie usage disabled, so if you get a vbscript runtime error, that is most likely the cause, any other errors that you come accross, mail them to me and ill do my best to fix them as soon as possible. Big thanks to Joost and Dweomer for helping me get it all sorted out! What a nightmare it was too, but thats another story...:)

August 27th 4th [and final!] update, by Radix

Wow, four updates in one day. First we had a contest announcment, then a bunch of custom level demos, then mad coops and now we have some

'Normal' demos
They're normal since they're not custom, and they're only one player...

I improved four more of Optic's 100% demos on easy skill: Evan also improved one of Optic's 100%s. He did e2m2 in 1:22, three seconds better.
Someone else also improved one of Optic's 100%s... Optic himself. He improved his e4m2 by 30 seconds to get 1:12.

Ilkka has done some 100%s too, as well as some runs: 100% demos in Quake 2
There weren't many 100% demos made in Quake 2 before we halted them, but I never liked the way I set them up. I set it up so you have all the keys you'd need to go through a level and get everything and exit wherever you wanted. I've come up with a new way that is better in some ways, and not in others. At least, that's my opinion. Download both types of 100% demos on jail3 and email us saying which you'd prefer.

August 27th 3rd update, by Gunnar

Long Awaited Mad Coops Update
Most of these runs have been lying here since before the summer, and all the runners have been screaming for me to update them. Here they are at last =) : As you may have noticed, we have now included the 3 player demos in the Mad Coop tables. Makes sense, doesn't it?

Some HFR Mad Coops
Although we won't make a table for these demos, I thought I'd put them in this update just as a curiosity. They sure was fun to make =) Comments
More Mad Coops are coming up as soon as we've finished writing the text files. If you're going to make some MCs with some friends, try to get all of them to record his or her demo, and include it in the zip. Please name the demos ping-wise - best ping first, and so on. Then make everyone that participated write their own comment on their demo, and include it in one global text file, don't make a separate one for each player. And as I said a few updates ago: If you're interested in joining us in a MC run, contact me on ICQ #820540 =)

August 27th 2nd update, by Jesse

Big Fat 83-demo Update
Damn, finally it's done. Finally I've posted all custom level demos that have been waiting to get updated, some of them sent to us more than two months ago. Finally, or at least that's what I thought. Just as I was uploading all these demos, I got new ones in my mailbox. I'm think I'm gonna have a nervous breakdown soon. Keep those demos coming guys...

Some Apologies
First of all, I owe some of you some apologies. Mostly for not updating your demos (Stefan, Matthias, Evan and Ilkka), but I also made a mistake too last update: I placed Optic's d207_012.dem (easy 100%) in the table, but we received d207_012.dem two weeks earlier by Matthias. Sorry Matthias, sorry Justin.

Matthias' Demos
Matthias has been busy this summer. He filled up a lot of empty spots on the custom tables including a lot of nightmare runs, which is a very good thing.

First of all these are his easy runs: These are his easy 100% runs: These are his nightmare runs (hold tight): And finally, these are his nightmare 100% runs: Stefan's Demos
Stefan Schwoon did some filling up too; he did some of the 100% runs of Beyond Belief: He also did a regular run on The Colony on nightmare in 0:50, 2 seconds faster than the demo that Matthias sent in for this update

Optic's Demos
During last my last update, I missed a few demos by Optic. These are all easy runs: Evan's Demos
Evan Wagner did a couple of custom levels too. Easy runs: Jumpin' Rabbit Demos ;)
Our little Finnish bunny probably got tired of beating all those times on the regular tables, so it did some custom levels too. Demos by Others
Mr-J[!!] did two demos: We welcome newcomer Josh Zayas to the fray: Coops
Attilla and Peter did two coops a long time ago; these demos suffered severe delay, sorry guys. Ilkka and Juho did two coops: Jailbreak
It had to happen sometime, the addition of Jailbreak, a map designed for speedrunning, to the custom level section here at SDA. This summer we received some demos on this level by Optic and Matthias.

The map has a history. The people who are following the speedrunning scene for a longer period will perhaps remember the "Jailbreak Contest", held by the North American War Council (although the original contest page no longer exists, you can still read about it at Skillz). The idea was to exit the map as fast as possible, using the normal route. This was a requirement, since there also was a very easy route, through a secret teleporter which lead almost directly to the exit (well, the trigger_changelevel to be precise). The contest was won by speedrunning legend Juha Kujala, better known as "Perkele", who also won the Skillz Test 4, of which you've probably seen Yonatan's highlight reel. Perkele recorded a time of 1:21.

Among the demos that were done for this contest was a demo by a guy called "Icyman", who couldn't resist taking the easy route and exiting the level in only 0:06. His demo was considered 'illegal'.

Matthias has sent us a demo with this short route too, a very dull demo. He also got 0:06 on both skills (the link is his easy run). Optic did a decent run, although it features those nasty bunnies, and was 4 seconds slower than Perkele, who of course didn't use any bunnies. You can download Optic's 1:25 here.

Even though both demos were sent in before we decided to no longer allow any new maps on the custom tables, we will not add Optic's nor Matthias' run. Especially because the 0:06 is a perfect example of demos we don't want to see anymore. As far as Optic's demo is concerned: the map was done faster than 1:25 before, so until anyone does a 1:20 or faster, you'll have to do with Perkele's demo. But considered the fact that it would be shame to further ignore this special level, we'll make an exception for it and add Jailbreak it if its done faster than Perkele's run, using the regular route. If you're a man, do it without bunnies...

Comments: The custom level section
We recieved quite a few reactions to our decision to stop the flooding of the custom level section. Not all of of them were happy ones, but as Chris said, our decision is final.

Today's demos filled a lot of empty spots on the custom tables. This is a very good development IMO. After this update, it has already become a bit harder to get you name on the tables, which is another reason why we banned new levels. Some of you might think this sucks, but then you don't get what speedrunning is all about. It isn't supposed to be easy, as watching easy demos (not to be mistaken with skill 0 demos!) is truly boring. It's supposed to be hard.

Another reason is that a lot of the levels on the CLS haven't been optimized - by far. Just consider that fact that there are 'just' 30 maps in the original Quake, of which a lot still haven't been optimized. When you take into account that the CLS now consists of 151 maps, you'll see why we don't want any new maps - at least not until a greater number of them has been optimized.

August 27th by Tangent

Twisted Into Form Speed Run Contest
Twisted Into Form is currently holding a speed run contest. There are 3 maps available for running, all with different rules. Firstly, there's E1M1 in skill 1, 100% kills and 4 of 6 secrets. Then there's E1M2 in skill 2, 100% kills and secret, and impulse 255 (quad). And last of all, there's E1M5 in skill 3, 100% kills and secret, god mode, impulse 255 (quad) and impulse 9 (all weapons). Contest deadline is September 28th. Interestingly, they are already putting up the demos of current leaders. Not a good idea for a speed run contest, really. I haven't seen any mention of a prize either. Anyway, would be nice to have the 'SDA Team' go kick some snail ass in that contest. :)

August 24th by Chris

Custom Map Demos, Important Information.
After some discussion amoungst SdA Staff we have made a decision that affects custom demos. From now on we will not accept demos from any maps, that are not already here. Feel free to send us as many improvements to custom maps that have already been run, and are listed on our custom demos pages, but if the map is not already here, we will not add the run. If you have sent us demos of new maps recently do not fear, we agreed that we would add all these demos and then no more. Jesse will be making a huge update of all the custom map demos sometime this week. If you have submitted a custom map run to us recently, and do not see your demo after this update, then mail us, and state the date that you sent the demo. We came to this decision mainly because it is becoming an absolute nightmare downloading all the new maps and watching all the demos. Updating this site is a great deal of work, hopefully that will change in the near future with the introduction of a database format to the site, but trust me, it is a lot of work. There will be one exception to the above rule, that being Runners Delight. This is a pack of maps that Jesse has been working on for some time, and I am told they are gonna rock :) Another reason we came to this decision was the fact that people seemed to be going through CDROM.com finding stupid levels that could be run in under 10 seconds, that were basically unbeatable, and a waste of space, because no-one is interested in watching a demo of that lenght to be honest. Anyway, if anyone has any questions, comments, direct them to us at sda@planetquake.com and we will do our best to respond as soon as possible. We are also considering removing some of these very short runs, but we are not totally decided on that yet. The action is final, so even if you have been working on a demo for some time we are not going to accept it, but we are sorry. So, please feel free to carry on sending improvements to current maps, and as always we look forward to seeing your demos.

Chris Longden, on behalf of SDA.

August 23rd by Chris

Holidays are over :(
Yes unfortunately the holidays are pretty much over, I had a great time in Cape Town, but it's back to the good old British weather and unfortunately, work :( Anyway, thought i'd update some demos while I was clearing out my mailbox's.

Matthias made 6 Easy 100% Hipnotic Demos to fill the gaps as he said: Ilkka has continued to send his usual daily ammount of demos: Carl Lloyd-Parker likes killing that dragon: One Coop run to add, Ilkka and Juho-Jussi did e4m4 on easy, with 100%, in 1:34.

Some impressive running as always, and nice to have the gaps on the Hipnotic chart filled up, Matthias said in most of the text files that he either didnt like his run, or thought it could be improved a lot, but to me those levels are like mazes and the sheer ammount of monsters makes it hard to do perfect demos, so I thought they were pretty good. Mad-Coops (TM) rule! I have gotten into this rather heavily since I got back, so be prepared to see lots of demos coming in with me running about aimlessly trying to aim straight :) That's All Folks.

August 22nd by Tangent

Run, Ilkka, RUN! (Any bunnyhop while you can!)
I received this ICQ message from Optic: Ilkka had beter find his nearest bomb shelter quick!

August 21th by Gunnar - I'm back =)

Optic Straps Himself to Dynamite
Two days ago, Gerald told you about Justin's promise to blow himself and Ilkka up, using dynamite, if Ilkka beat his easy e4m7 in :50. Well, Ilkka improved it with two seconds to get a 0:48. Let's hope Dynamite Justin lives up to his promises, and we'll keep you updated as things develop.

But Ilkka had even time for more running:
Except for roaming the streets, trying to find someone to sell him dynamite, and buying a one-way ticket to Finland, Justin too had time for some running:
Evan Wagner makes an easy 100% of e3m3 in 1:00, and improves with that Justin previous record with 11 seconds.

A Few Coops
Ilkka and his friend Juho-Jussi have made these two coops for us: Comments
This was my first update after the summer holidays, and I'm sure I've messed something up today, as usual. I know there's more demos to be updated, but I don't have the energy to do that now, sorry. I also got lots of Mad Coops that have been lying, waiting to be updated, and I promise I'll do them next time. Speaking of Mad Coops, if you'd like to join us on that, try contacting me on ICQ #820540.

August 19th by Tangent

Optic Throws Down The Gauntlet
Optic sent in an easy run of E4M7 in :50, beating Ilkka's previous record by 1 second, and breaking Ilkka's dominance of the Episode 4 Easy runs. With this run, he sents the following challenge: Well, I have to say "Go! Ilkka! Go!" And bunny-hop as much as you like! I don't normally support bunny-hopping but this time, it's for a good cause :) Hmm... if Ilkka makes it, then there'll be no one to bug me about the Qd100Qlite release again :)

August 14th by Tangent

Status of Quake 2 Speed Running
I mentioned it a couple of months ago, but that's old news and unfortunately, some of the newcomers missed that important piece of information. We are currently not accepting any Quake 2 runs until Zoid releases a patch for Quake 2 with the stabilisied physics. After that, all the times on the Quake 2 tables will be wiped clear and the current owners of the times will have 7 days to match it before the level is up for grabs.

QdQ Improvements Page
The QdQ Improvements Page keeps track of all the demos submitted which affects the times in the famous episode runs released by the QdQ team, including Quake done Quicker, Quake done 100% Quick, Quake done Quick lite and Scourge done Slick. There are quite a lot of changes to the times because of new demos being submitted.

Recently added are complete episode run of Quake episodes 3 and 4 on easy by Illka. Episode 3 was done in 2:44, 29 seconds faster than the QdQlite time. Episode 4 was done in 3:31, 20 seconds faster than the QdQlite time. What can I say about those runs? "Hup! *boing!* Hup! *boing!* Hup! *boing!*" Ok, fine, so it's not all bunny hopping :) There are quite a few new tricks used too, like a double-grenade jump, a water-grenade jump, a grunt-shotgun-aided-bunny-jump, a bunny-barrel jump and more. Definitely worth a watch and an addition to your speed run collection.


August 13th by Radix

Improvements to single player demos
I made two demos for this update! :) I beat two of Optic's old skill 0 100% demos: Will Marsh also improved some 100%s: Peter Horvath improved two demos as well... Carl Tholin also improved two: [I had to fit in and do two demos like everyone else, you see...] A bunch of coop demos
There's the same amount of coop demos and single player demos on this update...
Ilkka & Juho-Jussi did four 100% coops: Ilkka also did a 100% e2m2 on easy in 0:56 with Matti Kaipila.

Evan and Cameron Engles did some coop runs on easy skill on new maps: Evan did another coop demo with someone else... me! Even I'm doing coop now...
We did a 100% of e2m4 on easy in 1:39. I got to push myself around with quad rockets even more than in my single player 1:55 from above.


Old News
Speed Demos Archive is maintainted by:
Nolan "Radix" Pflug,
Gerald "Tangent" Tan,
Gunnar "Muad'Dib" André Mo,
Jesse "Compsognathus" van Dijk, and
Chris [no nick] Longden.
To reach all of us, send to sda@planetquake.com.